IF YOU’VE EVER HAD A question about your cell
phone bill or a dispute with an online retailer, you might
have found the least stressful way to solve your problem is by clicking on the “chat with a representative”
button. You’re not put on hold, the representative is exceedingly polite, and you don’t have to worry about a
phone call dropping due to bad reception. In all likelihood, you’ve had a pleasant experience because you
weren’t actually talking to a human—you were talking
to a chatbot.

A chatbot is a computer program that simulates
actual human interaction by scanning submitted
messages and basing its prewritten responses on
keywords. It’s not a huge leap to see how the
benefits of using chatbots translates to healthcare, especially in telemedicine. After all, who
actually likes waiting rooms and a new set of
paperwork in the physical doctor’s office? With
this in mind, the virtual medical and behavioral healthcare provider MDLive recently introduced its own chatbot, Sophie, to the market at
the end of last year, with the goal of streamlining the registration process.

“Sophie aims to improve the platform user experience by offering a tailored, conversational registration process for each individual. Conversation
is initiated with a user based on demographics
and information entered throughout the regis-tration interaction,” MDLive’s press release on
Sophie states.

At first glance, registration doesn’t seem like
the obvious place to use a chatbot in healthcare, but Patty Buttner, RHIA, CDIP, CHDA,
CPHI, CCS, director of HIM practice excellence
at AHIMA, says chatbots are “a tool of the future for dealing with often lengthy registration questions.” In a presentation at AHIMA’s Data Institute,
Buttner says Desiree Matel-Anderson from Field Innovation Team spoke about the use of chatbots in Syrian
refugee camps.

“Matel-Anderson said the refugees preferred talking
to the chatbots as they could do it from their own personal space and did not have to be seen presenting to
the psychologists tent, as there is a social stigma associated with mental health services,” Buttner says. ¢
Chatbots Moving into
Healthcare Registration